Wednesday, August 18, 2010

My argument with Tobin Cozair

Tobin: I thought political correctness was dying, but people are angry at Penny Arcade for a "raped by dickwolves" punchline. Absolute morons.

Me: It's not political correctness. It's respect and courtesy to those who have been raped and sensitivity to the topic. Between that and "lol tila tequila mobbed and nearly killed" I have a hard time believing you're this cruel.

Tobin: that is absolute horseshit. The root of much humor is tragedy. A joke about a house on fire isn't insensitive to burn victims.

Me: Housefires do not give people PTSD. Rape does. The PA comic perpetuates a "rape is just a word" mindset in our culture. You wouldn't think it was hilarious to play Saving Private Ryan at maximum volume next to a Vietnam Vet, for example.

Tobin: no, what you're saying is that it would be insensitive to make saving private ryan at all.

(Not what I was saying. PA tried to make light of it and turn it into a joke whereas Saving Private Ryan was meant to be a realistic and horrific portrayal of war. Using SPR next to a Vietnam Vet as a 'joke' would be offensive and cruel. I didn't have a chance to reply since THIS stupidity came later...)

and rape IS just a word. A bad one, but to be offended by a dungeon of dickwolves is absurd oversensitivity to an obvious joke.

Me: So the word "rape" shouldn't carry meaning? No different than, say, "nigger" or "Faggot"? Just cause "it's a word"?

Tobin: I got tired of arguing with oversensitive nitwits like you in college, you never listen, and you have nothing but strawmen. Lucky for me, Twitter has a block feature. I'd recommend you unfollow me too, because dickwolves raping cartoons is hilarious.

Look I can totally disagree with someone on the subject but calling them "Fucking morons" is where I say, uh, excuse me, we're not morons. Just saying.

Then in addition to totally ignoring my point, he says that rape is 'just a word.' To which I say, okay, so then otherwise offensive words that anger people like 'nigger' or 'faggot' are 'just words' too? I mean you can't have this kind of double standard on the entire English language; some words are offensive and crude, others are not.

If your response would be, those words are built around hatred and cruelty, I would say, yes they are. Therefore use of them has to be very careful and deliberate. That is all people who are protesting this comic are asking; the word itself being used more carefully. I'm sure homosexuals hate when the word 'faggot' is being used casually, and this is no different. Acting as though 'rape' shouldn't have extra weight and meaning for no coherent reason other than 'because I say so' makes no sense.

But...a strawman? How is what I said a strawman? I made the legitimate comparison to other words that had meaning to them. I did not call anyone a racist or homophobe and I did not state that anyone saying "rape" is one of those two things. I was very clear that there are words that were more than just words, and rape should be in that category.

But as I said, I do like that his response to my legitimate point was "IM GONNA BLOCK YOU!" A bit touchy isn't he?